Xinara House Tinos Review: What It's Really Like to Stay Here

I first saw Xinara House in an interiors magazine sometime around 2019. I can't remember which magazine or even exactly when. All I remember thinking was, I need to go there and see this gem.

The funny thing was, Tinos wasn't really on my radar then.

I knew Tinos, of course. I had already been a couple of times, day trips from Mykonos, but always because of the Panagia Evangelistria. I hadn't really considered Tinos as an island I wanted to explore or somewhere I would plan a holiday around.

Then I saw Xinara House.

I started trying to book it, then of course 2020 and 2021 happened. From 2022 onwards, I kept trying to get a few nights in Blacksmiths, the smaller of the two houses, for just the two of us.

Finally, in late 2025, I found three nights available that worked for us and booked immediately. That’s all I could get so I grabbed them.

And I am not exaggerating when I say our entire 2026 Greece trip was then planned around those three nights at Xinara House.

When you've wanted to stay somewhere for seven years...

There is something I don't often admit. Sometimes I get nervous about finally staying somewhere I've really, really wanted to stay.

As an interior designer, my standards are probably a little different to other people's. I notice the finishes, the materials and all those details that perhaps other people don't and sometimes what looks incredible in photographs doesn't quite stack up when you see it in person.

There was a hotel, in Mykonos, I was desperate to stay at in the mid 2010s. It was all over my Pinterest boards and I'd even used it as inspiration in my own design work, even in my own home. When we finally stayed there, I realised the room I'd been seeing everywhere was basically the only one room. The rest had what felt like a quick slap of paint and the odd peacock chair and looked nothing like the hotel I'd been wanting to stay for years.

So yes, after waiting seven years for Xinara House, I was nervous that I'd built it up too much in my head.

Thankfully, it was all that and more.

The story behind Xinara House

Xinara House sits in the tiny village of Xinara in the centre of Tinos, directly beneath the enormous rock of Exomvourgo, in the hills.

The buildings date back to the 18th century and in the 1820s the main house was home to Ioannis Kollaros, Bishop of the Cyclades. His coat of arms is still on the house.

The current owners, London-based designers Peter and Susan Marston, found Tinos almost by accident while waiting for a delayed flight from Mykonos. They came across the former Bishop's house, totally neglected, which had been unoccupied for decades and had 17 shared owners. No doubt Greek inheritance laws at play here!

Somehow they managed to buy it and a year later work began.

The restoration itself is one of the things that makes Xinara House so interesting. Peter and Susan worked with local Tinian craftspeople and retained the original carved marble and plasterwork.

Tinos still has working marble quarries and a long tradition of marble craftsmanship, so local craftspeople made the floors, tables and even the solid marble basins in the bathrooms and kitchen. Traditional island pebble patterns were laid into the terraces and the exterior was finished in natural limewash mixed with loulaki, the old-fashioned laundry blue.

It doesn't feel like an old Greek house that's been renovated to look new. There is a refined rusticness at play here, where the age and imperfections of the original house are still very much part of it. Love that.

Greek, without trying to look Greek

This was probably one of my favourite things about the main house.

It feels Greek without being a cliché of a Greek house. Don't get me wrong, I love traditional Greek homes. Love them. Village houses with the terrazzo flooring, cut-embroidery curtains, stone sinks are some of my favourite aesthetic. And here there is plenty of blue and white here, woven throws, old rugs, ceramics and references to traditional Greek interiors. There is even an icon section.

But none of it feels like someone has gone through a checklist of things that make a house look Greek. There isn't an Acropolis or a tsolia in sight.

You feel it through the light, the space, the marble, the old walls, the craftsmanship and all those things that have been collected and put together.

The use of colour, art, textiles, pattern and texture is edited to perfection. Old pieces sit with newer ones and there is a lot for your eye to take in, but somehow nothing feels like too much.

If restrained maximalism is a genre, Xinara House is the playbook.

I was like a kid in a candy store. My eyes were jumping from one space to another because there was always another detail I wanted to look at.

Staying in Blacksmiths

Xinara House is made up of two adjoining properties that can be booked separately or together. We stayed in Blacksmiths, the smaller self-contained house, which was literally the adjoining blacksmith's house.

At 63 square metres, it's a very generous space for two, although it can sleep up to three. It's essentially one large, high-ceilinged open space with a super-king bed, sitting area and kitchen, plus a separate bathroom with both a bath and shower.

Blacksmiths has its own personality. It has this converted warehouse feel about it. The first thing that hits you is probably the bright green kitchen against all that white, then you start noticing the old tools on the walls, the artwork, timber ceiling and pieces that reference what the building once was. There is even a Union Jack, a homage to the now owners, I guess.

There's an old photograph hanging on the wall showing what Blacksmiths looked like before it was restored. Looking at that photograph and then looking around at what you're actually staying in today, it's staggering to believe they're the same place.

The bathroom has solid marble basins and floors and throughout Blacksmiths you see the same attention to materials and detail as the main house.

At the front, Blacksmiths has its own private terrace with seating and cushions. It's completely self-contained, with its own kitchen, and the fridge is stocked for breakfast when you arrive.

When the Tinos wind actually did us a favour

Anyone who has been to Tinos knows about the wind and during our stay it was particularly bad.

It was bad enough that the ferry carrying the couple who had booked the main house was cancelled and they were stuck in Athens. They couldn't get to Tinos for the first two nights of their stay, which meant we unexpectedly had use of the gardens and pool and I was lucky enough to have a proper look through the main house.

The main house is around 250 square metres with four bedrooms, all with adjoining bathrooms. There is the traditional sala (lounge), a large kitchen and then the Chill Room, which is designed for exactly that, lounging around, listening to music or watching something on the huge cinema screen.

The gardens

The gardens climb the hillside behind the house over a series of terraces.

The first main terrace is paved in marble with a pergola, a long outdoor dining table, colourful cushions and an outdoor cooking area with the original wood-fired oven.

There's even a restored traditional Tinos dovecote.

Further up is the edible garden with fruit trees, vegetables and herbs. Guests staying in the main house are encouraged to pick what's growing and use it for cooking.

There's also a small vineyard which was planted with the intention of producing Xinara House's own rosé from 2026.

At the top is the pool terrace overlooking the village and Tinos landscape below, with Exomvourgo rising directly behind the property.

Staying in Xinara

Xinara village is tiny and there really isn't much there. When we stayed, the cafe and restaurant weren't operating, so you NEED a car. Tinos Town is around 15 to 20 minutes away and we spent our days exploring the surrounding villages and the island.

What I did love were the people. We'd had brief chats with a local couple during our stay and as we were leaving they were asking us to stay longer and making us promise we'd come back.

Xinara is also for pedestrians. You park in the free village parking area at the start of the village and walk through the little lanes to Xinara House.

And somehow, despite how quiet it is, Xinara still manages to throw a panigiri that goes off, with food, music and dancing and people coming from across Tinos for it.

For us, it was all about staying at Xinara House and exploring the surrounding villages.

A few practical things

When I booked for summer 2026, Blacksmiths was around €2,200 a week in high season, while the main house was closer to €7,500. Obviously prices change, so these are a guide rather than what you should expect to pay every year.

It's not the cheapest stay on Tinos, but having stayed there, I think it's worth every euro.

If I were booking again, I'd probably look at September. We were there at the end of July and the meltemi was particularly strong during our stay. Xinara is up in the hills beneath Exomvourgo and when that Tinos wind gets going, you certainly know about it.

I booked directly through the Xinara House website and we picked up our hire car as soon as we got off the ferry. I'd do exactly the same again. You really do need a car if you're staying here and having it from the moment we arrived meant we could drive straight to Xinara.

Did Xinara House live up to seven years of expectation?

Completely, actually, it exceeded it.

The photographs don't do it justice, and considering how beautiful their photographs are, that's saying something. The interiors are even better in person. There is so much personality here, but it is also incredibly comfortable and doesn't feel styled within an inch of its life.

Would I stay in Blacksmiths again? Absolutely.

But having had those unexpected two days to wander through the main house and gardens, I left wanting to come back with a group of family and friends and take over the whole place.

I could see us all around that long table, cooking with whatever we'd picked from the garden, spending afternoons around the pool and basically settling in.

So after seven years of trying to get to Xinara House, I've left with a new plan.

Next time, I want the whole house.

Planning your own Greece trip?

This is exactly how I research Greece. I stay, eat, explore and work out what I'd genuinely recommend before it ever makes it into one of my guides. I’ll be sharing more from our time on Tinos, including where we ate, the villages we explored and the places I’d go back to.

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